Knowlege base

Advanced Configuration

Article ID: 72
Last updated: 18 Oct, 2023

This section describes how to enable some Digital Fax advanced features, including:

  • Define a "catch all" default user for incoming faxes
  • Create fax workgroups
  • Print incoming faxes
  • Store Incoming Faxes
  • Change the name of the email attachment
  • Configure Advanced Fax Routing
  • Specify recipient numbers in the "To:" field
  • Enable additional file types as attachments, or as Web to Fax documents

The default "catch all" user

The default user can be any user from the IAS users list. A user named "default" is automatically added to the user list by the setup program. To change the default user, click on Manage Service, enter the IAS username you want to use and press Save.

Warning: Ensure the user is available and has permissions suitable to receive faxes. If the user is not selected or if the user does not exist, Digital Fax will reject the fax.

When a default user is defined:

  • When an incoming fax is addressed to a number which cannot be found in the users list, it will forwarded to a default user
  • When an incoming fax is addressed to a number associated to a user who is not allowed to receive faxes, it will forwarded to a default user
  • When an outgoing fax sent through print-to-fax cannot be associated to any user, it will NOT be stored in the default user outbox. You can see them through the Outgoing report web page

You can access the default user outbox and inbox as you would for a standard user; or you can see the his faxes in the Inbox/Outbox report web pages.

Some faxes received by Digital Fax may be addressed to numbers which are not in the user list. By default Digital Fax sends these faxes to the "catch all" user if it has been defined. It prints them or stores them according to this user' preferences.

To setup a "catch all" user, create it as a normal user. Then click on "Application Settings" and enter his username in the "send all faxes for unknown users to user..." textbox.

Note: Use the internal Application Suite name of the user you defined, not the Active Directory credentials.

Press the Save button to save the changes. Restart is not required.

Busy tone for unknown recipients and the "catch all" user

If this user is not defined and the recipient number of and incoming fax is unknown, Digital Fax will reject the fax (the sender will hear a busy tone).

To let the sender of a fax for an unknown fax number hear the busy tone, leave the "default user" field blank.

Fax Workgroups

The most common way to use Digital Fax is to assign a personal fax number to each user. This way each user can send and receive personal faxes which are secure and private. Sometimes the customer needs the same faxes to be accessible to multiple users through the email and the web interface.

The easiest way to do that is to share the same username, password and email account between a group of users. This method has some disadvantages: the users cannot log onto the web interface with their domain credentials, and must explicitly select the shared email account when sending faxes.

The second way is detailed here.

Fax User Groups

Suppose you have five people working in the Sales department, and you want them to have one unique fax number. All of them must be able to send faxes as "Sales department" and to view the received faxes through the web interface.

Create one additional Application Suite user for the fax workgroup; we'll call it "sales_grp". Set the "Fax number" (e.g. 794), "Fax enable send" and "Fax enable receive" fields. Optionally, fill the other fax fields too.

Then create the five application suite users in the users list with no fax number and no fax offnet number. Set the "Fax group username" to "sales_grp". The users can be created through user synchronization.

With this configuration:

  • Web inbox: The users in the group will be able to see the incoming fax addressed to the group fax number (794 in our example) through the web interface by logging with their credentials. Only one copy of the fax is stored. If one of the users deletes the fax, it will be lost for all of them
  • Web To Fax: on the "Send a Fax" page the users can choose to send a personal fax (default) or a group fax. If the fax is sent as a group fax, it will be displayed in the other group members outbox
  • Web outbox: The users in the group will be able to see the outgoing and sent faxes through the web interface by logging with their credentials. Their personal faxes will be displayed too
  • Fax To Email: The group members who enabled "email to fax" will receive a copy of the fax in their email inbox
  • Email To Fax: The faxes sent by the group members with their personal email accounts will use the group user ("sales_grp") properties, including offnet fax number and cover page if specified. The fax will be available to all group members in the web interface
  • Print To Fax: a fax sent this way will always be considered personal, and will not be displayed in the outbox of the other users in the group

Special case: if you want a user to be able to send both personal and group faxes, set his "Fax number" field. This user will still be able to receive group faxes but will send personal faxes by default. He or she will be able to send a group fax by adding the ";shared" suffix to the email subject.
Mail notification will be sent to the personal user only (not to the email configured in the user fax group)

Printing Incoming Faxes

The print incoming fax feature allows Digital Fax to print all the fax documents a user receives. The following steps are required to be able to print incoming faxes.

Install all the printers you need on the Digital Fax server

Digital Fax can only print incoming faxes on printers which can be reached by the server on which it runs. The printers must be either local or mapped locally. Imagicle does not support Printer Servers, so the network printers must be directly reachable by Imagicle UCX Suite server.

Log onto Digital Fax server to ensure that the "Local System" account can access the printers you want to use (i.e. has the "print" permission). If you want to use network printers, adjust sharing permissions of the remote printers too.

Select the users which will have their fax printed

You can select which users will have their incoming faxes printer by activating the "Print Incoming Faxes" checkbox field in UCX Suite User Management page. If you must set the field for a large number of Imagicle users, you may export users' data to a CSV file, edit it with MS Excel, and import the data again.

Choose a different printer for each user

You can select a different printer for each user by entering its name in the "Printer Name" field in the "User Management - Modify user" page. For Local printers, enter the name of the printer as you see it in the Control Panel. For networks printer enter:

 \\RemoteServer\MyPrinter 

Where "RemoteServer" is the name of the server which shares the printer to the Windows domain and MyPrinter is the NetBIOS name of the printer itself, i.e. the printer name when it is shared in the local network.

Warning: Incoming Faxes with unknown recipient number (that is addressed to numbers which are not in the IAS database) will be printed only if a default "catch all" user is defined.

Note: Since IAS 2014.1.1 you can test the access rights to a network printer from the Manage Service -> Print and Storage page.

Copy faxes to a local or network folder

Digital Fax can create a copy of faxes to a local or network folder. There are two available options:

  1. Enable copy per user*
  2. Enable copy system wide

*Limited to incoming fax only.

Warning: No check is made on disk usage or disk quota

Warning: Old faxes are not deleted from these folders

Enable copy per user

Valid only for incoming faxes. System will create a folder for each IAS user.

1. Select the users who will have their fax stored

You can select which users will have their incoming faxes stored by ticking the "Store to Folder" checkbox field in IAS User Management page. If you want to set the field for a large number of users, you may export users' data to a CSV file, edit it with MS excel, and import the data again.

2. (optionally) choose the storage root folder

Log onto the Application Suite server and edit this configuration file:

 c:\Program Files\StonevoiceAS\Apps\StoneFax\Server\System\Stonefax.ini 

Under the [Settings] section add the following line:

 CopyRootFolder=c:\FaxBackup 

Where c:\FaxBackup is the directory under which the incoming faxes will be stored. Digital Fax will create a subfolder for each IAS user.

By default, Digital Fax uses this directory:

 c:\Program Files\StonevoiceAS\Apps\StoneFax\Stored_Faxes 
3. Choose a different storage path for some users

You can override the default storage path for a user by entering an absolute directory path in the "Storage Folder" field. E.g. c:\Sales\jSmith

4. Changing the name of the stored faxes

An advanced setting controls the way the fax are renamed before storing them to target folder. If you need to change it, log onto the Application Suite server and edit this configuration file:

c:\Program Files\StonevoiceAS\Apps\StoneFax\Server\System\Stonefax.ini

Under the [Settings] section add the following line:

   RenameStoredFaxAs = Fax{date}{time}-{uniqueid}{rnd3} 

For the list of available variables see next section.

Enable copy system wide

You can enable copy of incoming and outgoing faxes system wide.

choose the storage root folder

Log onto the Application Suite server and edit this configuration file:

 c:\Program Files\StonevoiceAS\Apps\StoneFax\Server\System\Stonefax.ini 

Under the [Settings] section add the following line:

 CopyPathFormat=c:\FaxBackup 

Where c:\FaxBackup is the directory under which the faxes will be stored.

If you want to differentiate between incoming and outgoing faxes location, or if you want to enable fax copy only for incoming or outgoing it's possible to use (alternatively to CopyPathFormat) these parameters:

CopyPathFormatIncoming=c:\FaxBackup\Incoming
CopyPathFormatOutgoing=e:\Outgoing-Faxes

Additional configuration

For both the options, you can apply additional configuration regarding the network credentials used in case of network share copy and the file name of the fax copy.

Copy fax on a network share

Go to the Application Settings -> Print and Storage page. Here you can set the credentials of a valid domain user to be used when accessing the network folders. You can also test the access rights to a network folder.

Dynamic file name creation

Both the options allow to dinamically create the folder and the filename using variables. The available options are:

Field Meaning
{uniqueid} A unique identifier automatically generated by the Microsoft Fax Service
{username} The username (in the Application Suite) of the recipient of the incoming fax
{callednumber} The called number for the incoming fax as signaled by the PBX
{callingnumber} The calling number
{date} Receiving date in this format: "yyyyMMdd"
{shortdate} Receiving date in this format: "yyMMdd"
{time} Receiving time in this format: "hhmm"
{pages} Number of pages of the fax
{size} Size of the fax file in bytes
{serial} Serial number, equivalent to the number of received faxes
{rnd3} Three digits long random number
{rnd4} Four digits long random number
{rnd5} Five digits long random number
{direction} Direction (In or Out)
{nodename} Imagicle cluster node
{nodeposition} Imagicle cluster node position
{uniqueid} Unique identificator across cluster
{reference} Fax reference number

You can enter other characters but they must compatible with the file system conventions.
For instance, characters like * , \ or : are not allowed.

Changing the name of the email attachment

An advanced setting controls the way the fax are renamed before sending them as email attachment. The file extension cannot be changed. The change will affect the name of the document that will be printed if the Print per user feature is enabled. If you need to change the file name, log onto the Application Suite server and edit this configuration file:

c:\Program Files\StonevoiceAS\Apps\StoneFax\Server\System\Stonefax.ini

Under the [Settings] section add the following line:

NotifyAttachmentFormat=Fax-{date}-{time}_form_{callingnumber}_to_{callednumber}

This is the default value. The available options are:

Field Meaning
{uniqueid} A unique identifier automatically generated by the Microsoft Fax Service for the local machine
{username} The username (in the Application Suite) of the recipient of the incoming fax
{callednumber} The called number for the incoming fax as signaled by the PBX
{callingnumber} The calling number
{date} Receiving date in this format: "yyyyMMdd"
{shortdate} Receiving date in this format: "yyMMdd"
{time} Receiving time in this format: "hhmm"
{pages} Number of pages of the fax
{size} Size of the fax file in bytes
{serial} Serial number, equivalent to the number of received faxes

You can enter other characters but they must compatible with the file system conventions.
For instance, characters like * , \ or : are not allowed.

Advanced Fax Routing

Different calling numbers for outgoing faxes (ANI)

Digital Fax puts a different calling number in the h.323 or SIP signaling of each user's outgoing fax so that billing programs such as Imagicle Imagicle Billing will be able to correctly track the cost of each fax.

If the recipient uses a traditional fax, he / she will see the callers' number on the display.

If the user's "Offnet Fax number" is not blank, this E.164 number will be put in the signaling as CALLER number if ANI signaling is enabled. If it is blank, the user's "Fax number" will be used as caller number.

On-net and Off-net faxes

Outgoing faxes reaching their destination through the PSTN or the WAN are called OFF-NET faxes.

Faxes sent to other Digital Fax users (loopback) or to fax devices connected to the same network (usually traditional fax machines connected through ATA) are called ON-NET faxes.

By default, Digital Fax considers all outgoing faxes to be off-net except the ones sent to other Digital Fax users.

There is a second Network Routing type you can choose: "Both external and internal faxes". If you choose this routing strategy, you'll have to specify a prefix (e.g. "0"). You can enter this prefix in the "Off-net pattern" field.

  • All the faxes beginning with that prefix will be considered off-net
  • All the others will be considered on-net
Differences between On-net and Off-net faxes

The distinction between On-net and Off-net faxes affects the ANI, i.e. the calling number which will be signaled to the PBX.

  • For On-net faxes, the ANI will always be the user's "Fax Number"
  • For Off-net faxes, the ANI will be the user's "Offnet Fax Number". If this field is blank, the "Fax Number" will be used

The distinction between On-net and Off-net faxes also affects the "Per-User" PBX Routing type:

  • For On-net faxes, no prefix will be added to the called number
  • For Off-net faxes, the user's "Fax Routing Prefix" will be added to the called number

Note that the "Global" PBX routing type is unaffected by the distinction between On-net and Off-net faxes.

Per User routing - Fax routing based on caller

Suppose your company has two offices with two gateways and one Digital Fax. For billing purposes you want the faxes sent by the people working in office A to reach the PSTN through gateway A and the ones from office B through gateway B.

In the Routing Parameters box select the "Per User" PBX routing type.

Edit the users' properties and set the values of the "Fax Routing Prefix" field so that users form office A have (e.g.) 11 and users from office B have 22.

Those prefixes will be added to the fax recipient number. It the original called number is 045556677, the PBX will receive 11025556677 if the fax is sent form a person working in office A, 22045556677 if the fax is sent form a person working in office B.

Then create a rule on the PBX that strips the first two digits and sends the call to the right voice gateway.

If you deal directly with the gateway you can define IP routes in Digital Fax that match 11 and 22 as described in the Multiple Routes section.

This option will affect Web To Fax and Email To Fax only. User-based routing is not supported for Print To Fax.

Email To Fax: specifying recipient numbers in the "To:" field

Effective from version 2011.6.1, Digital Fax supports sending email specifying the called number in the "To:" field like this:

 TO: 00225067794@digitalfax.yourdomain.com

The parameters specified in the "Subject" field will be taken into account as usual.

To be able to send faxes this way, a special configuration on your email server is need.

  1. On the DNS, add a third level domain, e.g. digitalfax.Yourdomain.com
  2. On the email server, create the reserved Digital Fax account as usual. E.g. digitalfax@yourdomain.com
  3. On the email server, create a "Catch All" account for that domain which redirects all the email messages to the reserved Digital Fax account (E.G. *@digitalfax.yourdomain.com -> digitalfax@yourdomain.com)

More info available in this KB.

Article ID: 72
Last updated: 18 Oct, 2023
Revision: 24
Views: 7206
Print Export to PDF Subscribe Share
This article was:  
Prev   Next
Cisco Webex Calling MT Native Integration     Service management